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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, a Family Divided by Warby Stephen Berry
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:A groundbreaking look at the fortunes of a family shattered by the Civil War — Mary Todd Lincoln's family — and their surprising impact on how Lincoln fought that war For all the talk of the Civil War's pitting brother against brother, no single book has told fully the story of one family ravaged by that conflict. And no family better illustrates the personal toll the war took than Lincoln's own. Mary Todd Lincoln was one of fourteen siblings who were split between the Confederacy and the Union. Three of her brothers fought, and two died, for the South. Several Todds — including Mary herself — bedeviled Lincoln's administration with their scandalous behavior. With the narrative intricacy and emotional intensity of a novelist, the award-winning historian Stephen Berry tells the Todd family saga. Their struggles haunted the president and moved him to avoid tactics or rhetoric that would dehumanize or scapegoat the Confederates. By drawing on his own familial experience, Lincoln was able to articulate a humanistic, even charitable view of the enemy that seems surpassingly wise in our time, let alone his. With brio and rigor, Berry fills a gap in Civil War history, showing how the war changed one family and how that family changed the course of the war. As they debate each other about the issues of the day and comfort each other in the wake of shared tragedy, the Todds become a singular microcosm and metaphor for the country as a whole. Review:"Divided families make the stuff of drama. When the divided family is Abraham Lincoln's, its divisions are metaphors for the nation's own collapse. With a skilled and pleasing pen, Berry tells the tangled story of the sad and often painful element of Lincoln's life that deepened his understanding of the nation's travails. Lincoln was closer to his wife's large clan — she had 13 siblings — than to his own. Originally from Kentucky, the Todds had members in both the North and South and backed both the Union and the Confederacy. Four of them, including Lincoln, died as a result of the conflict. Some were honorable and others scoundrels, some were easygoing and others problematic. Berry, an assistant professor of history at the University of Georgia, calls many of them 'miserable,' and their family a 'wreck.' He manages to tell the story of each Todd with full sympathy yet critical distance, and adds another level of understanding to the president who would 'bind the nation's wounds.' Finally, he rescues the Southern Todds from their obscurity. The result is a fast-paced, sobering story, never better told, of the pains of a clan and their significance for American history. 8 pages of b&w photos." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Synopsis:For all the talk of the CivilWars pitting brother against brother, no book has told fully the story of one family ravaged by that conflict. And no family better illustrates the personal toll the war took than Lincolns own.Mary Todd Lincoln was one of fourteen siblings who were split between the Confederacy and the Union.Three of her brothers fought, and two died, for the South. Several Toddsincluding Mary herselfbedeviled Lincolns administration with their scandalous behavior.Their struggles haunted the president and moved him to avoid tactics or rhetoric that would dehumanize or scapegoat the Confederates. By drawing on his own familial experience, Lincoln was able to articulate a humanistic, even charitable view of the enemy that seems surpassingly wise in our time, let alone his. In House of Abraham, the award-winning historian Stephen Berry fills a gap in CivilWar history, showing how the war changed one family and how that family changed the course of the war. About the AuthorStephen Berry is an assistant professor of history at the University of Georgia. He has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, among other honors. Berry lives in Athens, Georgia. Table of ContentsThe Todd Family vi Introduction ix 1. Bluegrass Beginnings 1 2. Scattered 24 3. 1861: Divided We Fall 53 4. 1862: “Blood Galore” 97 5. 1863: The Death of Absalom 131 6. 1864–65: A Whole People 157 Epilogue 182 Acknowledgments 193 Notes 196 Index 241
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